BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 

«• 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


REMARKS 


HON.  JOHN  B.  HASKIN,  OF  NEW  YORK, 


DEFENCE  OF 


COMMODORE  HIRAM  PAULDING. 


DELIVERED 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 


JANUARY  5,  1858. 


WASHINGTON: 

POINTED  BY  LEMUEL  TOWEES, 

1858. 


REMARKS 


OF 


HON.  JOHN  B.  HASKIN,  OF  NEW  YORK, 

IN  DEFENCE  OF 

COMMODORE  HIRAM  PAULDING. 


DELIVERED  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  JANUARY  5,  1S5S. 


The  House  having  under  consideration  the  reference  of  the  President's  Mes- 
sage, in  relation  to  N  icaraguan  affairs,  and  the  recent  capture  of  General  Walker 
by  Commodore  Paulding,  Mr.  HASKIX,  said : 

Mr.  CHAIRMAN:  From  the  latitude  taken  in  debate  upon 
the  resolution  of  the  distinguished  gentleman  from  Mississippi, 
(Mr.  QUITMAN,)  from  the  discussive  character  of  that  debate, 
and  especially  from  the  remarks  which  fell  from  the  lips  of 
the  distinguished  gentleman  from  Georgia,  (Mr.  STEPHENS,) 
attacking  Commodore  Paulding,  who  is  my  immediate  con- 
stituent, I  feel  it  to  be  my  duty,  as  his  Congressional  Repre- 
sentative on  this  floor,  to  say  something,  feeble  though  it  may 
be,  in  vindication  of  his  gallant  conduct  in  arresting  the  ex- 
pedition of  Walker  against  Nicaragua. 

I  listened,  Mr.  Chairman,  with  attention  and  respect,  to  the 
remarks  submitted  by  the  honorable  gentleman  from  Missis- 
sippi, (Mr.  QUITMAN,)  a  gentleman  whom,  as  a  New  Yorker — 
an  able  civilian  as  well  as  general — I  am  proud  that  the  State 
of  New  York  gave  to  the  State  of  his  adoption,  Mississippi. 

With  many  of  the  remarks  which  fell  from  that  gentleman 
respecting  the  repeal  of  the  neutrality  laws,  I  concur.  But  I 
see  nothing  in  the  argument  of  the  gentleman  to  induce  me 
to  change  my  conviction  of  the  impropriety  of  a  present  re- 
peal of  those  laws,  though  at  the  "proper  time,  and  under 
more  auspicious  circumstances,  I  will  perhaps  be  prepared  to 
go  as  far  as  any  member  of  the  responsible  majority  of  this 
House  in ,  favor  of  a  suspension  of  the  neutrality  laws,  be- 
lieving that  circumstances  may  so  shape  themselves  hereafter 
as  to  render  such  suspension  eminently  expedient.  He  said, 
in  the  course  of  his  remarks,  that  it  was  not  the  duty  of  this 
government  to  interfere  in  a  fight  between  individuals,  and 
upon  that  he  based  his  argument  for  the  repeal  of  the  neu- 


trality  laws.  I  concede  bis  proposition ;  but  when  you  apply 
his  doctrine  to  an  illegal  armed  expedition  fitted  out  and 
manned  from  tins  country  to  invade  a  nation  with  which  we 
are  at  peace,  and  a  nation  which,  from  its  inherent  weakness, 
peculiarly  called  upon  the  magnanimity  of  this  government 
to  protect  it  from  armed  marauders  from  our  shores,  who 
bad  sailed  in  open  violation  of  those  very  neutrality  laws,  then 
I  will  not  and  cannot  go  with  him  for  such  .repeal.  It  was  in 
a  case  of  this  kind,  and  to  meet  one  of  similar  character, 
that  these  identical  neutrality  laws  of  1818  were  passed. 
From  a  critical  examination  of  them,  it  appears  to  me  that 
they  were  prepared  with  a  view  to  this  very  case  of  Walker 
and  his  men.  And  it  is  a  singular  fact — it  is  a  remarkable 
coincidence  of  time — that  in  this  very  year  1818,  Arbuthnot 
and  Ambrister  were  hung  as  high  as  Hainan,  by  the  orders 
of  General  Jackson,  for  doing  against  this  government  that, 
which,  in  my  judgment,  was  not  more  illegal  and  reprehen- 
sible than  what  Walker  has  done,  and  was  attempting  to  re- 
peat again  when  stopped  by  the  gallant  and  humane  conduct 
of  Commodore  Paulding,  toward  the  unfortunate  people  of 
Nicaragua. 

From  a  close  examination  of  the  neutrality  laws,  I  find  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  specially  referred  to  and 
defined  in  them,  in  terms  "  within  the  United  States,"  and 
"in  the  limits  of  the  United  States,"  in  the  first  six  sections 
of  the  law,  and  when  you  come  down  to  section  eight  and 
examine  its  peculiar  phraseology,  I  am  disposed  to  give  to 
that  the  interpretation  given  to  it  by  the  gentleman  from 
Virginia,  (Mr.  BOCOCK.)  We  discover  in  that  section  that 
there  is  no  express  language  restraining  the  jurisdiction  within 
the  boundaries  of  the  United  States,  but  the  President,  in  the 
case  of  an  armed  invasion  being  contemplated — in  the  event 
of  an  expedition  being  fitted  out — is  authorized  to  call  upon 
the  army  and  navy  to  repress  it,,  to  protect  our  treaty  obliga- 
tions, and  to  sustain  the  honor  of  our  government.  In  this 
section  you  will  find  other  remarkable  words,  which*  do  not 
appear  in  any  of  the  other  sections  of  the -law.  In  it  authority 
is  given  to  capture  a  vessel  within  the  "jurisdiction  and  pro- 
tection" of  the  United  States. 

Now,  sir,  I  contend  on  this  floor,  that  under  this  law,  and 
in  consonance  with  the  law  of  nations,  Commodore  Paulding 
had  the  right  to  go  without  and  beyond  the  marine  league ; 
that  he  had  the  right  to  chase  and  overhaul  this  marauding 
expedition  upon  the  high  seas ;  had  a  right  to  capture  these 
men  and  bring  them  home.  Many  will  doubt  whether  he 
had  the  right  to  go  on  land  in  Nicaragua.  I  am  not  here  to 
say  that  he  had  the  strict  legal  right  to  do  that.  But  if  a 


treaty — an  inchoate  treaty,  if  you  please — existed  between 
this  government  and  Nicaragua,  by  which  we  are  to  protect 
the  transit  route,  the  instructions  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
and  the  President  of  the  United  States,  in  view  of  carrying 
out  and  enforcing  the  treaty,  warranted  Commodore  Paulding 
in  going  on  land,  and  thus  preventing  perhaps  serious  diffi- 
culty with  England,  who,  by  treaty,  is  bound  equally  with 
ourselves  to  protect  the  transit  route,  and  she  having  no  na- 
tional sympathy  for  "Walker  and  his  unfortunate  men,  might 
have  hanged  them  to  the  yard  arm  if  she  had  taken  them  in 
lieu  of  Commodore  Paulding. 

The  only  party  on  the  face  of  the  globe  that  has  any  right 
to  object  to  this  act  of  Commodore  Paulding  is  the  govern- 
ment of  Nicaragua,  which  commends  the  act ;  and  it  certainly 
does  not  behoove  the  American  Congress,  by  any  course  of 
theirs,  to  justify  conduct  which  was  against  our  treaty  stipu- 
lations, and  against  the  law  of  nations. 

Now,  sir,  the  distinguished  gentleman  from  Mississippi, 
(Mr.  QUITMAN,)  yesterday,  in  the  course  of  his  remarks,  referred 
to  the  sympathy  manifested  in  this  country  for  Poland  and 
Hungary.  Sir,  that  was  a  generous  and  noble  sympathy. 
It  was  the  sympathy  of  the  American  people  in  favor  of  the 
oppressed,  striving  to  throw  off  the  shackles  by  which  they 
were  bound  to  the  despotic  governments  of  Austria  and  Rus- 
sia. But,  sir,  I  am  not  aware  that  there  was  any  attempt,  in 
the  American  Congress,  to  legalize  the  fitting  out  and  sending 
off  of  an  expedition  from  our  shores  to  their  assistance.  There 
was  no  attempt  to  recognize  by  act  or  deed  any  interference 
upon  the  part  of  our  people  in  behalf  of  the  freedom  of  Poland 
and  Hungary ;  and  the  gentleman  might  have  more  appro- 
priately referred  to  the  conduct  of  the  American  people  to- 
ward classic  Greece,  when,  from  our  primary  schools  to  the 
Halls  of  National  Legislation,  vast  contributions  were  made, 
in  clothing,  provision,  and  amunition,  for  that  suffering  and 
patriotic  people. 

The  gentleman  also  referred  to  Lafayette.  Sir,  his  was  a 
noble  and  gallant  impulse ;  it  was  the  generous  sympathy 
of  a  noble-hearted  and  patriotic  Frenchman,  who  imperiled 
his  titles,  his  fortune,  and  his  life,  for  the  success  of  those 
principles  of  civil  liberty  which  we  are  now  enjoying.  It 
was  the  same  sympathy,  in  our  behalf,  which  was  enlisted 
here  in  behalf  of  the  down-trodden  people  of  Poland  and 
Hungary.  Would  either  of  these  instances  bear  any  parallel 
with  this  outlawed  marauding  expedition  of  Gen.  Walker  ? 

But,  sir,  the  immediate  cause  of  my  rising  to  address  the 
House  to-day,  were  the  remarks  of  the  gentleman  from 
Georgia,  (Mr.  STEPHENS,)  against  Commodore  Paulding,  whom 


6 

it  is  my  privilege  to  defend.  He  expressed  an  opinion,  and  I 
concede  to  him  the  right  to  do  it ;  and  I  know  he  is  liberal 
enough  to  concede  to  me  the  same  right  of  the  expression  of 
my  opinion  in  opposition  to  his. 

The  gentleman  from  Georgia  said  on  this  floor,  yesterday, 
that  "Gen.  Walker  was  a  better  man  than  Commodore  Pauld- 
ing."  It  is  to  that  remark  I  take  exceptions. 

I  deny  that  he  is  a  better  man  than  Commodore  Paulding, 
and  appeal  to  the  history  of  the  two  men  to  sustain  me.  Who 
is  this  General  Walker  ?  The  first  I  ever  heard  of  him  was  in 
California,  where,  at  the  head  of  a  few  dozen  adventurers,  he 
made  a  descent  upon  Sonora,  and  where  he  encountered  a  just 
defeat.  The  next  I  heard  of  him  he  made  a  foray  upon  Ni- 
caragua, where  he  met  with  temporary  success,  and  became, 
nominally,  the  head  of  the  Government,  in  which  position,  to 
show  his  entire  inapitude  and  want  of  capacity  as  a  statesman 
and  General,  he  did  levy  and  take  forcible  possession  of  the 
steamers  belonging  to  the  Transit  Company,  thus  cutting  off 
all  communication  between  his  own  followers  and 'those  who 
might  have  afforded  supplies  of  men  and  ammunition  from  the 
States.  Not  satisfied  with  this  grave  error,  he  arrayed  the 
native  population  against  him,  by  whose  tacit  acquiescence 
he  was  present  in  their  country,  by  shooting,  in  cold  blood, 
their  favorite  leader,  Corral,  and  committing  other  acts  of 
petty  tyranny  and  mal-administration  towards  those  who  were 
unfortunately  in  his  power,  thus  paving  the  way  to  his  own 
downfall,  and  the  destruction  of  the  men  who  were  with  him. 

The  next  you  hear  of  General  Walker  is  in  the  report  of 
the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and  I  desire  to  call  the  attention 
of  the  House  to  the  language  there  used  in  relation  to  him, 
for  the  purpose  of  proving  that  the  doctrine  of  reparation, 
claimed  by  the  gentleman  from  Georgia,  cannot  apply,  in 
justice  and  equity,  to  an  outlaw  and  fugitive  in  the  position 
of  General  Walker.  Of  him,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  says  : 

"The  unsatisfactory  state  of  affairs  in  New  Granada  and  portions  of  Central 
America  required  the  increase  of  this  squadron,  and  the  almost  constant  pres- 
ence of  a  considrrable  force  in  the  neighborhood,  both  on  the  Atlantic  and  the 
Pacific.  ******* 

"  All  these  men  were  brought  home  without  previous  orders ;  but  such  was 
their  deplorable  condition,  that  it  was  an  act  of  humanity  which  could  not  and 
ought  not  to  be  dispensed  with ;  and  the  Department  approved  it.  The  ex- 
pense of  providing  for  them  necessary  food,  clothing,  and  medicine,  while  on 
shipboard,  amounted  to  $7,376  16,  for  which  an  appropriation  is  recommended. 

"  It  was  deemed  necessary,  as  a  measure  of  humanity  and  policy,  to  direct 
Commodore  Mervine  to  give  General  Walker  and  such  of  his  men,  citizens  of 
the  United  States,  as  were  willing  to  embrace  it,  an  opportunity  to  retreat  from 
Nicaragua.  Before  these  instructions  were  received.  Commodore  Mervine  'had 
sent  Commander  Davis,  with  the  St.  Mary's,  to  San  Juan  del  Sur,  with  instruc- 
tions to  protect  the  persons  and  property  of  American  citizens.  With  this 


authority  only,  Commander  Davis  negotiated  with  General  Walker  terms  of 
capitulation,  under  which  he  surrendered  with  his  men,  and  was  conveyed  to 
Panama,  whence  he  proceeded  to  the  United  States.  Commander  Davis  also 
received  from  General  Walker  the  surrender  of  a  small  schooner  which  he  had 
detained,  called  the  Granada,  and  delivered  her  to  the  Nicaraguan  authori- 
ties. The  action  of  Commander  Davis,  so  far  as  he  aided  General  Walker  and 
his  men,  by  the  use  of  the  St.  Mary's,  to  retreat  from  Nicaragua  and  return 
to  the  United  States,  was  approved  by  the  Department ;  but  his  interference 
with  the  Granada,  and  her  transfer  to  the  Nicaraguan  authorities,  by  his  inter- 
vention, was  not  approved.  The  whole  number  of  men  surrendered  and  carried 
to  Panama  was  about  three  hundred  and  sixty-four.  Commodore  Mervine,  find- 
ing his  squadron  suddenly  encumbered  with  these  men,  in  the  most  wretched 
condition,  suffering  for  the  want  of  everything,  and  endangering  the  health  of 
those  under  his  command,  had  no  mode  of  relief  except  by  turning  them  adrift, 
which  was  impossible,  or  sending  them  by  the  railway  to  Aspinwall.  Adopting 
the  latter  alternative,  he  was  under  the  necessity  of  drawing  on  the  Department, 
in  favor  of  the  Railway  Company,  for  $7,475,  being  the  amount  which  would 
be  due  for  tranporting  them  across  the  Isthmus  at  the"  usual  rate  of  charge. 
This  bill  has  neither  been  paid,  accepted,  nor  protested.  The  Company  volun- 
tarily relinquished  the  personal  responsibility  of  Commodore  Mervine,  and  put 
the  bill  at  the  disposal  of  the  Government.  I  submit  it,  with  an  expression  of 
my  conviction  that  Congress  should  make  reasonable  provision  for  it ;  and  also 
for  the  expenses  of  providing  these  men  while  on  shipboard  with  necessary 
food,  clothing,  and  medicine,  of  which  an  estimate  will  hereafter  be  furnished." 

Sir,  I  saw  the  remnant  of  "Walker's  deluded  followers,  who 
were  landed  at  the  port  of  New  York,  in  the  Park,  there 
sleeping  under  the  broad  canopy  of  heaven,  dependent  upon 
passing  charity,  to  save  tnern  from  absolute  starvation,  and  a 
more  abject  and  pitiable  sight  I  never  before  beheld.  These 
poor  fellows  were  without  shoes  or  stockings,  without  any  clo- 
thing indeed,  other  than  their  shirts  and  pantaloons,  and  cov- 
ered with  lice  and  the  scurvy.  Since  then  many,  very  many 
of  them,  have  been  delivered  from  their  sufferings,  and  have 
gone  to 

"The  undiscover'd  country,  from  whose  bourn 
No  traveller  returns." 

General  Walker  cannot  say  of  these  men,  like  Macbeth — 

"  Thou  canst  not  say,  I  did  it :  Never  shake 
Thy  gory  locks  at  me." 

Now,  sir,  who  is  Commodore  Paulding,  a  constituent  of 
mine  of  whom  I  am  justly  proud ?  He  is  the  son  of  that  John 
Paulding,  of  Revolutionary  memory,  who,  with  Williams  and 
Yan  Wart,  captured  Major  Andre,  at  Andre's  Brook,  near 
Sleepy  Hollow,  Westchester  county — a  spot  with  which  I  am 
as  familiar  as  with  this  Hall.  These  men  were  penniless  sol- 
diers attached  to  the  Continental  army.  It  is  said  that  they 
were  playing  a  friendly  game  of  "  old  sledge,"  when  they  es- 
pied Andre  upon  horseback,  who,  though  a  brave  and  a  cour- 
teous gentleman,  was  nevertheless  a  British  spy.  They  stop- 
ped his  horse,  compelled  him  to  dismount,  and  after  thoroughly 
searching  his  person  arrested  him. 

Mr.  Chairman,  John  f  aulding,  the  father  of  Commodore 


8 

Paulding,  had  no  search  warrant — no  special  directions  from 
the  Government  to  do  what  he  did.  He  had  no  orders  from 
the  Continental  Congress  directing  him  to  search  and  arrest 
Andre.  Maj  or  Andre  offered  these  three  honest  patriots  gold 
sufficient  to  make  them  and  theirs  independent  for  life,  and 
himself  a  hostage  for  the  ransom,  to  let  him  pass,  but  they 
spurned  the  bribe.  These  three  Westchester  yeoman,  with 
true  patriotism,  conveyed  him  to  the  American  army,  where 
he  was  tried;  convicted,  and  hung. 

Mr.  JNO.  COCKRANE,  of  New  York.  "Will  my  colleague  al- 
low me  to  ask  him  a  question  ?  I  ask  whether  this  spirit  of 
committing  offences  against  the  law  of  nations,  runs  in  the 
family  ? 

Mr.  HASKIN.  If  my  colleague  considered  such  an  offence 
against  the  law  of  nations,  then  I  admit  it  runs  in  the  blood. 
I  was,  Mr,  Chairman,  merely  giving  the  history  of  Paulding, 
the  captor  of  Andre,  to  prove  that  Commodore  Paulding  was 
the  worthy  son  of  a  patriotic  sire,  and  I  insist  that  he  has 
better  reason  to  be  proud  of  his  ancestor,  than  any  monarch 
seated  on  any  of  the  thrones  of  Europe.  He  has  been  in  the 
naval  service  of  the  United  States  for  forty  years,  and  during 
that  time  has  worked  his  way,  by  gallantry  and  official  ser- 
vice, to  the  highest  position  in  it.  There  is  neither  blot  or 
bar  upon  his  escutcheon.  It  is  therefore  unfair  and  ungenerous 
upon  the  records,  to  place  the  notorious  violator  of  the  laws 
of  his  own  country  and  the  world,  upon  an  equality,  much 
less  of  superiority,  with  a  gallant  officer  who  has  faithfully 
performed  his  duty  to  humanity  and  his  government,  by  pro- 
claiming the  marauder  "a  better  man."  In  reference  to 
this  act  of  Commodore  Paulding,  in  arresting  Walker,  I  be- 
lieve that  no  other  act  since  the  inauguration  of  the  existing 
administration  has  reflected  more  honor  and  credit  upon  the 
country,  and  I  sincerely  trust  that  the  responsible  majority  of 
this  House  will  not  fritter  away  that  honor  and  credit  by  any 
resolution  of  censure  against  Commodore  Paulding.  The  act 
meets  with  the  hearty  approval,  I  am  sure,  of  the'eonserva- 
tive  men  of  the  country,-  and  the  fair  and  just  men  all  over 
the  civilized  world.  T&Sty]  sir,  in  my  appreciation  of  the  con- 
duct of  Paulding,  I  would  go  farther  than  many  Democrats 
in  the  north  on  this  subject.  I  recollect  that  Congress,  in 
1854,  gave  its  thanks  and  a  medal  to  Captain  Ingraham  for 
what  he  did — protecting  an  inchoate  American  citizen, 
"  Koszta,"  in  foreign  waters  and  in  a  foreign  land.  While  I 
believe  in  the  justice  of  the  approbation  by  the  government, 
of  the  conduct  of  Captain  Ingraham,  I  must  claim  that  an 
equal  ineed  of  praise  and  substantial  recognition  is  equally 


due  to  Commodore  Paulding,  and  I  am  willing  now  that  we 
should  vote  our  thanks  and  a  medal  to  him. 

I  beg  the  gentleman  of  the  south  not  to  believe  that  I  am 
in  the  least  tinctured  with  any  sickly  sentimentality  on  the 
subject  of  fillibusterism ;  I  am,  when  the  exigency  arrives,  a 
national  fillibuster,  but  I  am  against  individual  fillibusterism, 
which  in  my  opinion  retards  the  coiisumation  of  our  acquisi- 
tion of  Central  America  and  other  territories,  which  we  ought 
and  in  time  will  have.  I  believe  the  time  has  nearly  arrived, 
when  the  application  of  the  doctrines  promulgated  by  the 
Ostend  manifesto,  is  necessary  for  the  protection  and  preser- 
vation of  our  possessions  on  the  Pacific,  and  the  continuance 
and  success  of  our  commercial  relations  in  that  and  other 
quarters. 

Mr.  KIETT.  If  the  gentleman  will  allow  me.  He  says  he 
is  a  national  fillibuster,  but  against  individual  ones.  I  wish  to 
know  whether  he  is  for  nations  breaking  faith,  and  against 
individuals  so  doing  ? 

Mr.  HASKIN.  I  am  for  the  nation  keeping  its  faith.  I  am 
for  the  nation  doing  as  Great  Britain  has  done.  I  am  in  favor 
at  the  proper  time,  and  under  a  commercial  and  national  ne- 
cessity which  must  sooner  or  later  arise,  of  seizing  Cuba,  pro- 
viding we  cannot  sooner  obtain  it  in  a  manner  in  consonance 
with  our  foreign  polity;  and  for  which  purpose  I  would,  at  a 
suitable  time,  favor  the  suspension  of  the  neutrality  laws.  In 
this  sense  I  am  a  national  fillibuster,  and  will  go  with,  the 

fentleman  from  South  Carolina  to  that  extent.  And  let  me 
ere  say,  that  the  sympathies  and  desires  of  northern  Demo- 
crats are  right  on  this  subject.  They  believe  they  have  come 
by  this  feeling,  in  favor  of  the  acquisition  of  territory  on  this 
continent,  naturally  from  their  mother  country,  England, 
which  gave  to  the  South  her  cavaliers,  and  the  Xorth  a  great 
many  of  her  puritans  and  round  heads.  We  northern  Demo- 
crats believe  that  the  government  should,  by  conquest,  do 
certain  things ;  but  that  this  business  of  Walker's  was  a  petty 
larceny  affair.  We  northern  Democrats,  if  this  kind  of  thing 
is  to  be  indulged  in  under  the  recognition  and  auspices  of  the 
government,  are  rather  in  favor  of  national  grand  larceny. 
(Laughter.)  Permit  me  to  say  that  England  has  been  the 
greatest  filibustering  country  upon  the  face  of  the  earth. 
Look  at  her  recent  conduct  in  China.  Look  at  her  conduct  in 
obtaining  her  East  India  possessions ;  and  more  recently  in 
taking  possession  of  the  Island  of  Perim.  England  did  not  act 
as  Walker  and  his  expedition  did ;  but  the  navy,  the  govern- 
ment of  England  accomplished  it.  They  wanted  the  island  as  a 
national  naval  depot,  and  they  took  the  responsibility  of  taking 


10 

it.  £et  our  country  take  the  responsibility  of  raising  this 
same  standard,  and  you  will  find  thousands  of  the  national 
Democrats  of  the  North  with  it,  because  they  believe  it  is  the 
manifest  destiny  of  this  Republic.  They  believe  that — 

"No  pent  up  Utica  contracts  our  powers; 
The  whole  unbounded  continent  is  ours." 

In  the  remarks  I  have  made,  I  have  simply  designed  to 
define  my  position  in  the  defence  of  my  constituent,  Commo- 
dore Paulding.  I  have  not  desired  to  give  offence  to  any 
gentleman  upon  this  floor.  I  desired  to  put  myself  upon  the 
record  as  a  pure  national  Democrat,  sustaining  right  and  jus- 
tice, which  were  eminently  protected  by  Commodore  Paulding 
in  his  conduct  towards  Walker  and  his  followers. 

Mr.  GILMEE  obtained  the  floor. 

Mr.  STEPHENS,  of  Georgia.  Will  the  gentleman  from  North 
Carolina  allow  me  a  moment  ? 

Mr.  GILMEE.     Certainly. 

Mr.  STEPHENS,  of  Georgia.  I  merely  wish  to  say,  in  reply 
to  the  gentleman  from  New  York,  that  in  what  I  said  in  refer- 
ence to  Commodore  Paulding  yesterday,  I  meant  no  imputa- 
tion upon  his  character,  further  than  was  warranted  from  the 
arrest  of  Walker — the  transaction  about  which  I  was  then 
speaking.  That  act  was  certainly  without  law,  and  without 
color  of  law,  as  I  understand  it.  Upon  that  ground  he  is  to 
stanjl  iii  the  public  estimation.  As  to  his  ancestry,  or  his 
honorable  life  past,  I  meant  to  cast  no  imputation  whatever. 
It  may  be  that  he  comes  from  a  grandfather  who  has  had  the 
honor  of  having  refused  a  bribe.  Well,  sir,  if  that  goes  to  his 
credit,  let  it.  I  cast  no  imputation  upon  Commodore  IPaulding, 
further  than  this  act  of  his  was  concerned — an  act  which,  in 
my  opinion,  was  a  great  outrage. 

The  gentleman  has  alluded  to  the  character  of  Walker  and 
his  followers.  He  spoke  of  the  condition  in  which  he  saw 
some  of  those  followers  last  spring,  who  were  returned  to  this 
country,  when  there  had  been  an  illegal  interference  upon  the 
part  of  Commander  Davis.  What  put  these  men  in  mat  un- 
fortunate condition  in  which  he  saw  them,  I  know  not.  Per- 
haps they  had  been  robbed.  I  have  heard  some  say  that 
those  now  at  Norfolk  are  poor  and  "  lazy  and  lousy."  I  believe 
they  were  last  seen  in  the  company  of  some  of  the  officers  of 
the  Navy.  Whether  they  got  me  contagion,  and  got  the 
vermin  from  them,  I  do  not  know.  I  do  not  know  whether 
the  officers  looking  upon  them  in  that  condition,  and  seeing 
them  in  that  way,  could,  like  Macbeth,  exclaim:  "Thou  canst 
not  say  I  did  it!"  I  mean,  then,  no  imputation  upon  the 


11 

character  of  Commodore  Paulding,  farther  than  this  act  war- 
ranted my  judgment.  It  is  past,  and  I  stand  upon  what  I 
say — that  this  was  a  great  outrage  on  private  rights ;  and  if  it 
appears  that  the  arrest  was  illegal,  as  such  it  ought  to  be 
redressed. 

Mr.  HASKIN.  With  the  permission  of  the  gentlemen  from 
North  Carolina,  (Mr.  GILMEK,)  I  desire  to  say,  in  reply  to  the 
gentleman  from  Georgia,  that  even  though  this  act  of  Com- 
modore Paulding  may  not  have  been  strictly  within  the  legal 
purview  of  his  authority,  yet  there  are  abundant  precedents 
where  the  American  Congress  and  the  American  people^have 
sustained  an  act  which  was  right,  morally,  though  technically 
and  legally  wrong.  General  Jackson,  when  he  declared  mar- 
tial law  in  New  Orleans,  was  in  the  commission  of,  and  did 
commit,  an  illegal  act.  He  was  tried  for  it,  and  was  fined ; 
but  he  lived  long  enough  afterwards  to  become  President  of 
the  United  -States,  and  to  have  the  fine  repaid  by  order  of  the 
American  Congress.  There  are  many  cases  where  men  in 
our  navy-  have  gone  as  far  as  Commodore  Paulding  did  in 
this  case,  and  where  the  government  have  approved  their 
acts.  On  this  head  I  will  read  an  extract  which  I  have  be- 
fore me : 

"Commodore  Paulding,  if  necessary,  will  find  abundant  authentic  precedents 
to  sustain  him.  About  the  year  1826,  Commodore  David  Porter  was  dispatched 
to  the  Caribbean  seas  to  suppress  acts  of  piracy  that  were  almost  daily  perpe- 
trated on  the  commerce  of  the  world  in  that  quarter.  He  came  across  a  band 
of  pirates,  who,  on  hot  pursuit,  abandoned  their  schooners  and  shallops,  and 
took  to  the  Island  of  Porto  Rico — an  island  within  the  jurisdiction  of  a  State  of 
Europe,  with  which  we  held  friendly  relations — and  found  safety  and  succor  in 
the  town  of  Foxardo. 

"  Commodore  Porter  deeming  himself  in  pursuit  of  common  freebooters,  pi- 
rates, and  outlaws,  did  not  hesitate  to  land  ,on  the  Island  of  Porto  Rico,  where 
he  pursued  the  delinquents,  and  extended  to  them  the  full  measure  of  his  indig- 
nation. For  this  act  he  was  called  home,  subjected  to  a  court  of  inquiry,  and 
honorably  acquitted,  though  warmly  and  strongly  censured.  The  Administra- 
tion of  Mr.  Adams  was  disposed  to  treat  him  with  severity ;  but  public  opinion, 
the  nation  at  large,  and  the  subsequent  Administration  of  General  Jackson,  ap- 
plauded and  rewarded  him. 

"The  conduct  of  Commodore  Paulding  finds  precedent  in  that  of  Commodore 
Downes,  at  Qualla  Battooj  in  that  of  Commodore  Porter,  at  the  Fejee  Islands; 
in  that  of  the  Commodore  of  the  frigate  Vincennes,  in  the  Borco  Tagus;  and, 
more  recently,  in  that  of  Commodore  Collins,  at  Greytown. 

"The  only  difficulty  connected  with  this  matter  consists  in  the  undecided 
fact  of  the  real  character  of  General  Walker  and  his  followers.  If  Walker  is, 
or  ever  was,  Chief  Executive  of  the  Republic  of  Nicaragua,  he  holds  a  position 
in  the  embryo  State  that  absolves  him  from  the  odium  of  a  pirate  and  an  out- 
law, though  the  fact  does  not  hold  him  up  to  the  world  as  a  recognized  chief- 
tain, civil  or  military,  de  facto." 

Mr.  STEPHENS,  of  Georgia.  In  the  very  case  cited  by  the 
gentleman,  the  conduct  of  Commodore  Porter,  at  Foxardo, 
cost  him  his  position.  He  was  court-martialed  and  dismissed 
from  the  Navy. 


12 

Mr.  HASKIN.  That  is  true,  under  the  Administration  of  Mr. 
Adams ;  but  the  admiration  and  approval  of  the  nation  was 
so  strong  that,  under  the  Administration  of  Jackson,  the  act 
was  applauded,  and  he  was  rewarded  for  it. 

Mr.  STEPHENS,  of  Georgia.  He  never  was  restored.  Re- 
peated applications  were  made  for  his  restoration  to  the  navy, 
but  he  never  was  restored ;  and  that  was  a  case  where  he  pur- 
sued pirates  and  robbers. 

Mr.  HASKIN.  The  only  difference  between  the  conservative 
national  Democrats  of  the  North  and  the  gentleman  from 
Georgia,  is,  that  that  gentleman  views  Walker  as  a  General, 
while  we,  in  the  country  I  come  from,  deem  him  a  Quixotic 
adventurer  and  marauder,  which  is  the  conservative  sentiment 
among  the  Democrats  of  the  North. 

Mr.  THAYER,  of  Massachusetts,  (opposition  and  Republican,) 
on  the  day  following  the  delivery  of  the  remarks  by  Mr.  HAS- 
KIN, said,  in  the  course  of  his  speech : 

"  By  the  way,  sir,  I  did  agree  with  the  gentleman  from  New 
York,  (Mr.  HASKIN,)  who  told  us  yesterday  that  he  was  not  in 
favor  of  petty  larceny ;  but  I  did  not  agree  with  him  when  he 
said  that  he  was  in  favor  of  grand  larceny.  I  regret  that  a 
Representative  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  the  Coun- 
cil Hall  of  the  nation,  should  say  to  his  constituents,  to  the  na- 
tion, and  the  world,  that  he  and  the  Democratic  party  were 
"  rather  in  favor  of  grand  larceny."  Larceny  is  larceny •;  and 
you  cannot  say  a  meaner  thing  about  it  than  to  call  it  by  its 
own  name.  I  am  pained  that  this  report  has  gone  forth  that 
any  party,  or  that  any  individual  in  this  House,  or  connected 
with  this  Government,  is  in  favor  of  grand  larceny  or  petty 
larceny.  Larceny,  grand  or  petty,  is  not  only  disgraceful,  but 
is  absolutely  and  utterly  contemptible.  We  do  not  go  for  the 
acquisition  or  the  Americanization  of  territory  by  larceny  of 
any  kind  whatever,  but  fairly,  openly,  and  honorably." 

To  which  part  of  Mr.  THAYER'S  speech,  Mr.  HASKIN  rejoined 
and  replied  as  follows : 

Mr.  MOORE  obtained  the  floor. 

Mr.  HASKIN.  I  ask  the  gentleman  from  Alabama  to  yield 
to  me  a  moment  for  a  brief  personal  explanation. 

Mr.  MOORE.     I  will  yield  if  it  is  not  taken  out  of  my  time. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  It  will  be  taken  out  of  the  gentleman's 
time. 

MR.  HASKIN.     I  will  be  brief.    . 

Mr.  MOORE.    I  yield  to  the  gentleman. 


13 

Mr.  HASKIN.  Mr.  Chairman,  considering  the  perverted  use 
which  was  made  on  Thursday  last  by  the  gentleman  from 
Massachusetts,  (Mr.  THAYER,)  and  also  by  some  of  the  news- 
papers of  the  country,  of  the  figurative  expression  indulged 
in  by  me,  in  the  course  of  some  remarks  in  the  defence  of 
Commodore  Paulding,  my  constituent,  that  I  was  in  favor  of 
"  national  grand  larceny,"  I  deem  it  proper  that  I  should  oc- 
cupy the  time  of  the  House  for  a  few  minutes,  in  explanation 
and  reply  to  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts. 

This  expression  was  made  in  an  argument  to  illustrate  an 
idea  in  reference  to  the  "Walker  expedition.  It  was  an  alter- 
native proposition.  If  this  government  did  (and  I  hoped  and 
argued  they  would  not)  justify  Walker  and  his  expedition, 
which  I  characterized  as  "  a  petty  larceny  affair,"  then  it 
would  be  far  beiter  for  the  government  to  fillibuster  on  a  large 
and  grand  scale. 

The  President  has  ably  and  most  justly  elaborated  in  his 
recent  message  to  the  Senate  the  idea  which  I  intended  to 
convey. 

"It  would  be  far  better,  and  more  in  accordance  with  the  bold  and  manly 
spirit  of  our  countrymen,  for  the  government  itself  to  get  up  such  expeditions, 
than  to  allow  them  to  proceed  under  the  command  of  irresponsible  adventurers. 
We  could  then,  at  least,  exercise  some  control  over  our  own  agents,  and  pre- 
vent them  from  burning  down  cities,  and  committing  other  acts  of  enormity  of 
which  we  have  read." 

My  jocose  and  figurative  expression  was  in  its  fair  applica- 
tion understood  'by  the  House,  when  it  was  made,  and  it  ex- 
cited, as  it  was  calculated  to  do,  a  laugh. 

I  did  not  at  the  time  entertain  the  belief  that  any  gentle- 
man on  this  floor  seriously  thought  that  I  proposed  favoring 
fraud  larceny,  in  a  literal  sense.  This  supposition  could  not 
ave  been  fairly  entertained,  because  larceny  is  the  stealing 
of  personal  property — it  is  a  crime  defined  and  punished  by 
the  local  laws  of  the  States ;  and  it  could  not,  legitimately,  be 
made  referable  to  the  national  conquest  of  the  Island  of  Cuba, 
or  Central  America. 

If  any  FELONIOUS  HABITS  can  be  fairly  imputed  to  any  politi- 
cal party  in  this  country,  surely  they  may  be  attributed  to 
that  one  which  has  hitherto  aided  and  abetted  and  gloried  in 
the  appropriation  of  their  neighbors'  property,  and  out  of 
which  it  has  made  much  of  its  ephemeral  capital.  They  call 
themselves  the  Republican  party,  of  which  the  gentleman 
from  Massachusetts,  who  stands  forth  as  my  accuser,  is  a  rep- 
resentative and  a  shining  light. 

Sir,  the  records  of  this  House,  and  especially  the  very  able 
report  of  the  chairman  of  the  corruption  committee  of  the  last 
session — our  present  impartial  and  distinguished  Speaker — 
prove  that  the  party  of  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  is 


14: 

the  "grand  larceny"  party  of  the  country.  I  admit,  Mr. 
Chairman,  with  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts,  that  the 
crime  is  a  "  mean  one,"  that  it  is  "  contemptible,"  and  I  rep- 
robate and  condemn  it.  I  hope  that  the  members  of  the  Re- 
publican party  in  the  present  House  will  do  as  much  to  stop 
plundering  as  some  of  their  representative  men  in  the  last 
House  did  to  promote  it. 

I  have  thus  briefly  replied  to  the  gentleman  from  Massa- 
chusetts, and,  in  so  doing,  have  sought  to  put  myself  "  right 
on  the  record "  for  the  satisfaction  of  my  friend  from  iNew 
Jersey,  (Mr.  ADKAIN,)  whose  criticism  iu  his  speech,  on  Thurs- 
day last,  upon  my  use  of  the  words  "  national  grand  larceny," 
I  am  glad  to  know  was  intended  to  aiford  me  the  opportu- 
nity to  make  this  brief  explanation.  ISTo  explanation  would 
have  been  necessary  if  my  remark  had  not  been  perverted 
from  its  jocular  and  figurative  sense. 


